Silver Snow
by Agatha marley
Summary: While out on patrol, lonely shifter Paul discovers a cute little wolf cub and imprints on her.


Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, SM does. A real bummer, right?

Don't usually do Twilight stories, but... Oh well! I accept any constructive criticism and requests.

Bella/Paul story. This is a one-shot about how Paul found his imprint. On with the reading! Here we go...

Paul's PoV

I stormed angrily out of Emily's house where I had just been eating dinner with the pack and moved swiftly behind a wall of bushes and trees to slip my shorts off. I phased into my wolf form; a large, sleek figure with silver fur and brown eyes.

I was not supposed to be patrolling today. I should've been at home, sleeping. But no. All because Sam wanted to spend time with Emily, Jared with Kim and Jacob with Leah. Imprints always get to slack off. That was all Sam's idea. Jackass.

So here I am, with the twins -Collin and Brady- bored out of my mind and being forced to do something I really don't want to do. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Brady- **_Gee, thanks._**

I snorted in reply through the 'pack mind'. It was great having no privacy. Oh, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention I'm extremely sarcastic?

The pearlescent moon shone through the branches and onto the dirty forest floor. I ran, ignoring the lighthearted banter between the younger boys. I loved running- it was the only time I was truly free. Because, let's be honest, I've never really been happy in my life: my Father abused me and my Ma when I was younger, eventually murdering my Ma and killing himself one night when he was drunk. I recalled he was like that when he was drunk- more violent than usual. After their deaths, the elders decided to keep me on the res (for some unknown reason that I didn't know of then, but later got told it was all because my Father's genes turn me into a giant, fluffy dog) so they built me a small cabin near the forest. I was very lonely and isolated, and when I did go to school people avoided me due to my intimidating nature. I had a bit of a badass reputation; my aggressive nature, solitary life and man whore-ish ways provided lots of gossip and scandal for the Rez and Forks. I thought all the rumours would die down when I went wolf. No such luck, I thought bitterly. Really, the only good thing that has happened to me was meeting my brothers and my sisters.

Well, crap. Brady and Collin had been listening to my more-than-depressing auto-biography and were now quiet. I pictured myself flipping them the finger and they quickly backed off. Get back to patrolling...

For hours, I just calmly watched the beauty around me whilst trotting around the border. Why did there even have to be a treaty line? Stupid Cullens, with their stupid treaty, and their stupid mansion and their stupid Money.

And then, I smelt it. Blood. Blood mixed with a sweet, almost...flowery yet woodsy scent I couldn't quite place, and a smell of burning acid.

Oh, Shit.

 _ **Leech!**_ I roared alarmingly in my mind.

I heard Collin and Brady's panicked thoughts-

 ** _What? On the res? FILTHY BLOODSUCKERS! We're coming! Go on ahead and follow the trail. RUN!_**

So, I did. The chase was on. Quickly, I followed the blood and the pungent smell of Vampires which made me want to gag fiercely.

The earth trembled beneath my paws, wind whistled through my fur, and as I thundered on through the forest, all I could think was _don't stop_.

I didn't know why, but I knew I had to get there. My life depended on it; depended on getting to the place where my heart was so furiously tugging me. I figured something big was going to happen - something so big, I realised, my life would be flipped upside down and shit would hit the fan for all of us- and all I really knew was that it was going to happen soon.

My brain is really screwed up, I thought, laughing darkly (which only came out as a strangled noise like a cat choking up a fur ball.) Yet, as the blood on the ground thickened and increased, I began to worry and ran faster.

I came to a halt in a large clearing, gnarled trees towering around the edges. I didn't notice though. All I saw was a dirty blonde-haired leech, venom foaming at his mouth, as he threw what appeared to be a white cloud around dangerously. I growled low and deep in my chest, my stance now defensive. My hackles were raised, ears back, lips curled up to reveal knife like teeth and I got low on my haunches, ready to pounce. I snarled, and then lunged.

We clashed, our teeth attempting to bite anything; desperate to win. To kill.

Suddenly, his arms tried to enclose around my body. He wanted to squeeze the life out of me! Well, two can play at that game, Bloodsucker! My jaws enclosed around his arm, and with a loud snap, taking him by surprise, his arm lay limp in my mouth. In his confusion, I managed to gnaw off his head, which was really fun. It's not everyday you get to kill a leech, okay?

I felt Collin phase, so I watched joyfully as he used a lighter to burn the savage creatures remains to a pile of ashes. Although I was happy, I was worried. Vampires had never gotten this far into La Push before, and there had to be some reason why they were here.

"Dude, look!" Breathed Collin, pointing over at a brown mound for me and Brady to look at.

I cocked my head to the side. It looked like a hill, but not a hill. It was furry. Aha! It was not a hill, but a motionless she-wolf. A dead, motionless, she-wolf.

We had lost a wolf. I looked over and noticed that she was lying in a pool of crimson blood. She was not one of the pack, but was indeed a shape shifter. Mournfully, I howled for my brothers. They needed to see this shit. We didn't know there were others like us- she could've been a new shifter in the pack- meaning we didn't get here in time.

 ** _Brady! You and Collin run back to Emily's and grab the pack. I'll stay and inspect the area...hurry!_** \- I yelled forcefully because something didn't feel right about this.

 ** _Aye, aye captain!_** -Yelled Collin and Brady, who were now disappearing into the woods

Slowly, hesitantly, I moved forwards. I was on high alert, so I placed down my paws carefully, sniffed the air, swivelled my ears to see if I could hear anything unusual, before reaching the corpse.

Death lingered in the air; it's stench suffocating me. I shivered silently. This was scary. Carefully, after seriously contemplating my other options for a few tense moments, I nudged the lifeless form. Her mouth was slightly open, congealed blood trickling from it, paws splayed out and body sunken and crushed. There were rips and deep gashes along the side of the She-wolf's body, and, on closer inspection, I saw a sight that made me feel sick to my stomach: her guts sparkling up at me, shining through a particularly nasty cut on her side. They spilled out onto her fur that was matted with dried blood.

A quiet sound which seemed muffled alerted my senses. At first, I thought it was coming from the She-wolf...

Great, you've finally gone crazy. Welcome to cuckoo land, we have cookies- I reprimanded myself mentally. My inner wolf had finally lost it. What the hell, wolf?

...but then I noticed it seemed to be coming from somewhere beneath her. My heart rate sped up rapidly. THUD! THUD! THUD! Each sound echoed through my head and shook my body.

I managed to roll the corpse over using my nose and it landed with a crack a little way aways from where I had originally found it. A short scuffling sound brought me back to the present. I turned around. And then I lunged.

A small, lupine whimper stopped me. I was sent barreling over the top of the white cloud, landing face first into the hard ground. I growled menacingly.

I swerved my head around, to see what had made me collide with the forest floor, so I could pound it within an inch of its life. I saw a white fluff ball cowering beneath my hard gaze. A cub!

Awwww...my wolf sighed with happiness. Jeez. I might as well hand in my man card now.

It was extremely fluffy, very adorable, had a wet, pink nose and icy blue eyes that stood out against its pure white fur. She was beautiful.

I stared at her, and my whole world fell away. She was the only thing I could see, as I stared into the swirling depths of her azure eyes. She was the only thing that mattered; that ever could. She was my everything. I lived to protect her, be with her. The thin strings attaching me to people snapped and dissolved in the air, and instead I felt a thousand steel cables attach me to her, chaining us together tightly. With one glance, I was left floating, wandering in space- and then quickly as I felt that, it disappeared and I was held to earth. She was my life- wait, no- the centre of my entire being. I loved her; she was my forever. My imprint.

She was my imprint. It was one of those elusive aha! moments in life that I realised she was my world and couldn't be without her. That sudden epiphany warmed me on the inside, because I had been secretly hoping I would fine my soulmate for ages. No one suspected me, Paul Lahote, resident Ladies man, to be harbouring a secret envy of having an imprint. But I did.

Quickly, I saw her whimpering on the ground and changed my position. I could poke her...don't want to scare her after all... So I nudged baby imprint gently in the side with my head and lowered myself to the ground, head in paws, as I whined softly. She rolled out of her ball and uncovered her face from her paws again. She crouched, and then gradually scooted closer to me.

She sniffed me. And then, she playfully hit me with her muzzle and I gave her a large wolfy grin. I chuckled, which came out as a half-bark half-laugh as she climbed over me and stumbled around, mewing with happiness. I rolled over, and she huffed as she fell of my back.

Lovingly, she trotted over to me before burrowing her head into my silky pelt. I practically burst with happiness, whilst my wolf squealed and peed with excitement.

 _Darn_ , I'm such a girl!

We rubbed our faces together and I sighed in contentment. Unlike the other imprints, I didn't feel that strong MINE kind of claim, it was not yet romantic -EW, she's just a cub- but I did love her with my entire existence. She was just so cute! I peeked to see what baby imprint was doing, and I could see her hiding herself between my legs and pelt. So I could protect her.

I heard, rather than saw, a rustling in the undergrowth. A menacing growl escaped my muzzle, and I gently buried my baby imprint within my thick pelt, to hide her. The sound was ominous and sinister, a warning. It was scary- a deadly, almost predatory sound. I was the creature that haunted your nightmares. I was the creature that you should fear.

Multiple copper-skinned, bare-chested, overly-muscular men strode confidently out of the foliage. Their faces didn't register; that was not what was running through my head. My vision was clouded in a haze of red. I only knew one thing: they were a threat.

Protect. Protect. Protect. Protect.

My wolf screamed at me to sweep baby imprint into my russet arms, to shield her from the world, to never let her get hurt. Just the though of her injured, was enough to make me quietly whine and whimper to myself. I knew that now; that I'd die without her.

Just as I was getting ready to rip the men up, I heard one of them speak.

'Paul, what the fuck are you doing? Why are you growling?' That bought me out of the red haze and I could finally focus. Shaking my wolfy head, I looked at their faces properly for the first time. There was Sam, Jacob, Jared, Embry, Quil, Seth, Collin and Brady. Leah must be at Sam's helping Emily and Kim with dinner, I noted idly. 'Bro, what happened here?'

Next thing I knew, baby imprint was poking her head out from beneath my legs and I was licking her face protectively, whilst she purred. Oh, hell no. I stopped and looked up at my brothers. Silence.

Nobody moved for about ten seconds, and then...

...they were on the ground laughing their asses off.

'You imprinted on an actual wolf? That's like beastiality, dude!' Quil cried hysterically. Unfortunately, this only made the others laugh harder.

I was so angry at them! I wanted to scream at them that she was so much more than that, that she deserved better, that she was a real person and that she was amazing...but I was still phased.

A weak, high pitched growl emitted from baby imprint and I gazed at her adoringly as she tried to protect me. I think it was then that my pack realised it was so much more than they originally thought, we fit together like a puzzle and that we were made for each other.

Maybe I should phase back so they can discuss things with me and I can (more importantly) get to know my imprint.

Taking one last look at my girl, I padded into the woods and phased back to my human form, before getting dressed. I ignored the strange sensation tingling at the back of my neck because of leaving my imprint with the others and returned to the clearing.

I jogged towards my brothers who were carefully watching my imprint, but before I could get back to her Jared turned to me and said,

'Welcome to the club, man.' I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face, as I went to sit down on the ground near my imprint. 'Although, it's a bit strange that she's not actually human. I mean, aren't you even a little bit grossed out?' The grin was immediately wiped off my face, and I snarled in satisfaction when my pack retreated, terrified.

I was quiet for a moment, absent-mindedly stroking her beautiful snow fur, before I replied without taking my eyes off hers. 'She's not a wolf. At least- she's not a wild one.'

I could sense their confusion and could probably imagine their thoughts. 'What's he on?' Or something like that.

'She's one of us, a shifter. I don't know how- but I know she is. Also, I can feel that she's younger than me, because I don't want to claim her right now.'

'Since when did you become a know-it-all, Paul?' Embry chuckled.

'Well, I think it's sweet that's she's only a child. Although, Paul's not going to get laid for quite a while, which sucks for him.' Thanks for that, Jacob.

'Enough messing around, guys. Vampires have never gotten this far past us and they were clearly out to kill. And they did.'

'What do you mean, Sam?' Ah, Seth. Always the calm one.

'I mean, the wolf that died, is dead for a reason. My guess is, they were trying to get to Paul's imprint as well.' Now I was on red alert. It hadn't really registered until now that that vamp I burned was harming my imprint. Scaring her. Trying to kill her. 'Calm down Paul, we don't need you phasing right now.' Seriously? My imprint was almost murdered.

'Sam,' I started as I belatedly remembered something 'I can't hear her thoughts in wolf form. She's completely quiet. Li-like she's not...there.' I choked up on the last sentence, and I had to place my hand back in my imprints fur for reassurance. The others glanced at each other worriedly.

'Maybe we should try to get her to phase back...?' Suggested Brady quietly.

Okay, then. How do we do this? I turned to look at the guys, a question in my eyes. They shrugged. Really helpful. I gazed into my Imprints eyes, trying to get her to see what I wanted. When that didn't work, I started to whisper comforting things to her. I didn't care that my pack brothers could hear, all I wanted was to see my beautiful girl- to find out everything about her.

After what seemed like hours later, Quil exclaimed he was hungry as a horse (to which Embry replied, 'No you asshat, you're a wolf,') so we decided to bring my imprint back to

Emily's.

We were about half way there, everyone was in their human form walking home, and I was carrying my imprint when I felt the air shimmer suddenly. I was no longer holding a wolf. The little girl, who was naked as the day she was born, looked at me shyly and giggled.

'Hi. I'm Bella.' The next thing I knew, I was falling into a tree from shock. Ouch.

When I awoke, the first thing I saw was a pair of the deepest, most sparkling chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen. I realised, I was lying on the ground- how the hell did I get here?- and my imprint was sitting on my chest peering into my eyes, concerned.

'Hey mister, you got some twigs in your hair.' Well. I was not expecting her to say that.

Carefully, whilst holding my imprint, I sat up. I remembered how I got where I was.

'Bella? Is that your name?' At her vigorous nod, I continued, 'my friend lives not too far from here, we can go there if you want. You must be very tired and hungry...and you must need some clothes. Right?'

'I'm really hungry so we can go see your friend. But I'm not tired. I can stay up until nine o'clock if I wanted to.' I feigned shock for the little girl, and my heart melted when her smile grew wider and she giggled. 'What's your name?' She asked sweetly. Thank you Taha Aki, for getting me the cutest imprint ever.

'My name is Paul. Here, have my top to wear, you don't want to be walking around naked all the time, even if you are a wolf.' I handed her the dark green t-shirt and she attempted to pull it over her head. When her arms got tangled up, I helped her put it on. It was so adorable- it went all the way past her knees. I finally got a good look at her: she was really tiny, she looked about nine or ten, had shoulder length shiny brown hair, amazing brown eyes, delicately pale skin and a wide, toothy grin. Beautiful.

However, my wolf ears picked up a 'PAUL, WHERE ARE YOU?' somewhere about half a mile away, so I gently placed my imprint in my arms and strolled quietly back to Emily's home.

'You know what, Paul? I like you. We gonna be best friends!' I gazed at her adoringly, with a huge grin upon my face.

'That's right Bella. Best friends forever.' She put her head on my chest with her arms around my neck, and with a quick snuggle into my arms she was fast asleep, snoring gently.

Finally, I knew everything was going to be alright. I also knew the path ahead would definitely be long, rocky, winding, frustrating and potentially scary, but it would be worth it all in the end. Just for her.

 **A/N Thank you for reading my one-shot of how Paul met his imprint, Bella. Although it took me awhile to write this since I lost passion for it, I enjoyed it a lot. Expect more fanfics about Twilight (and perhaps even Holes) soon. Love you as always. Xx**


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